


take you back

by irrationalqueer



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Gen, Haunted graveyard, Horror, Local Legends, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27125380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrationalqueer/pseuds/irrationalqueer
Summary: “This is so fucking stupid,” Dan hisses, rolling his eyes when Phil slips in the mud again and catches himself on Dan’s shoulder. Dan shifts to wrap an arm around him, though, and helps him to the base of the hill they’d been climbing down, and Phil just grins at him.“I just thought it would be cool,” Phil says brightly, tapping his phone screen to bring up the flashlight app now that Dan’s waving his aimlessly around. “You don’t believe in ghosts, or demons, or whatever’s supposed to be here, so why does it matter?”
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 13
Kudos: 33





	take you back

“This is so fucking stupid,” Dan hisses, rolling his eyes when Phil slips in the mud again and catches himself on Dan’s shoulder. Dan shifts to wrap an arm around him, though, and helps him to the base of the hill they’d been climbing down, and Phil just grins at him. 

“I just thought it would be cool,” Phil says brightly, tapping his phone screen to bring up the flashlight app now that Dan’s waving his aimlessly around. “You don’t believe in ghosts, or demons, or whatever’s supposed to be here, so why does it matter?”

“It matters because it’s the middle of the night and we’re not supposed to be here,” Dan says, batting Phil’s phone away and taking over flashlight duty again. He may also be casually looking for their lawyer’s number and mentally preparing himself to dial the emergency services number, but Phil doesn’t have to know that. “The devil isn’t real, but I still don’t think this is what they meant when they said we could take scenic detours on our way through the States.” 

Phil just giggles, hopping over a puddle and walking casually up the little path. They’d had to climb a fence to get in here, which, in hindsight, is probably when Dan should’ve called it quits and ended this little adventure. But Phil was so excited to wander around some haunted cemetery that may or may not contain an entrance to hell, and Dan’s powerless to resist Phil when he’s really, truly excited about something. And he doubts they’re going to tour like this again, so...he supposes it counts as a once in a lifetime opportunity. He really doesn’t think it’s haunted, but there are definite...vibes. There’s a weird chill down here, even though it’s the middle of summer and when they’d gotten off the bus the humidity had been so intense he’d immediately started sweating. And it’s completely silent, even though the highway is minutes away and there’s supposedly a lake around her somewhere that should mean the place is full of animals. 

The rest of the team is happily hanging out in the bus. Martyn had offered to come with them, but he’d been so obviously exhausted that they’d turned him down, and Dan’s pretty sure most of the team is asleep. The driver had given them an hour and Dan was hoping to not spend all of it walking up and down lines of graves or staring at a patch of grass where a church used to be, but he’s really just along for the ride here. Like Phil said...he doesn’t believe in any of this.

That doesn’t mean he didn’t do a little research, though. “Isn’t the church supposed to be the actual gate to hell?”

“I think so,” Phil says, walking carefully around the edge of a gravestone and - Dan’s so fucking fond of this idiot man, out of nowhere. He’s trying to explore the devil’s graveyard in the middle of the United States, jumped over a fence to do so, but he’s going out of his way to not step on the graves. 

Dan shakes his head, clearing his throat. “You know the church isn’t there anymore though, right? It’s been gone for like fifteen years or something?”

Phil shrugs, nodding. “I think it’s fine. Like do you really think a gate to hell would be a physical gate? It’s probably metaphorical. How can a church even be a gate to hell?”

“So, what, it’s just a gaping hole in the ground?” Dan snorts, idly noticing the rustling he hears from a line of trees ahead of them. Animals are a thing, he thinks. And they sure aren’t afraid of some nonexistent hell dimension. Just because he hadn’t heard them earlier doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Maybe they woke up when two giant idiots came stomping through their territory.

“Or like, a portal!” Phil says, gesturing in front of them. “What if you literally just tripped and fell into the hell-hole.” he says, and then he actually does trip, although thankfully Dan doesn’t let him get too far, reaching out and grabbing him by the hand. 

Phil keeps hold of his hand, and admittedly now that they’re connected Dan doesn’t really want to let go. Despite the weird vibes of this place, there’s literally nobody around, so there’s really nothing wrong with it. They make their way to the ruins of where the church used to be and just kind of stare at it; Phil excitedly snaps a few photos while Dan turns around, staring out over all of the headstones. It’s a tiny town, with a tiny cemetery, and there’s really not much to see. Urban legends come from somewhere, he knows, but it’s kind of hard to understand what makes this place such a draw.

Evidently disappointed, Phil shoves his phone back in his pocket and shrugs at Dan. “I just thought maybe there would be something cool over here,” he says. 

Dan smiles at him helplessly, pulling him in to kiss his temple. “You can get your spooks in elsewhere. I’m sure we can find a haunted tour or somewhere in one of the other places we’re going.”

Phil sighs, reaching back into his pocket as they start moving back toward the entrance. He pauses for a minute by a particularly old-looking grave and pulls out a smooth pebble, stepping forward and placing it gently on the headstone. Dan bites his lip to keep from smiling too wide, raising an eyebrow in question. Phil rolls his eyes. “It’s just, you know. Don’t you leave stuff on graves to show respect or something?”

“Sure, bub,” Dan says, squeezing his hand as they start walking again. He’s abruptly exhausted, all of the sleepless nights catching up to him all at once. He mostly just can’t wait to get back to the bus and pass out, and that’s what he’s thinking about as they make their way carefully through the graveyard. 

Suddenly, Phil’s hand is ripped out of his own, and Dan panics. “Phil!” he shouts; they’ve got to only be a few feet apart, but the wind is so strong and so loud, it sounds like a train. For a moment, everything around him disappears. He reaches out to where he thinks Phil was, but he can’t find him. His hair fans across his forehead and he pushes it back anxiously, squinting his eyes to try and find Phil. He knows what tornadoes are, obviously, but he also knows they’re not usually localized to the space two people fit in and also they definitely would’ve seen it coming so he really has no idea what the fuck is going on, and being suddenly left alone - or as good as - in the middle of a graveyard at two in the morning is not something he signed up for. There’s no way this is what the people want, he thinks wildly, whipping his head around. 

“Dan!” he hears, but it’s tinny, like it’s coming from miles away down a fucking 2007 Nokia phone or something. Phil has absolutely no sense of direction so if he’s moving at all Dan’s never going to find him unless the wind stops. Dan doesn’t even want to move, really, lest he get somehow swept up in whatever freak Kansas wind storm he’s caught in. His eyes are watering and he finally has to squeeze them shut, slamming his hands over his ears as the train horn sound grows impossibly louder, and sinks into a crouch like he can get away from it just by being smaller. 

And then, just as quickly as it came on - nothing. Actual silence, and Dan opens his eyes, blinking rapidly and scanning the cemetery around him. Phil’s - in front of him, maybe a couple meters away, standing there looking lost as hell and absolutely terrified. 

He stumbles forward, grabbing Phil by the waist and yanking him backwards, barely managing to keep his own footing as he drags him back the way they came, toward the fence. He pushes him up the hill with a hand to his lower back, and thank god Phil’s miraculously not stumbling this time. He boosts Phil up over the fence and then clambers over himself, feeling at least one hole rip in his jeans; it’s fine, it’s not like he doesn’t have plenty of black ripped jeans to choose from. He grabs Phil by the elbow again and rushes him up toward the highway where - inexplicably, the van is parked on the opposite side. 

“What the fuck,” Dan says, shoving his hand through his hair in disbelief. “I know the bus was parked facing the other direction,” he says, spinning to look at Phil. Phil, who’s paler than he’s ever seen him and shivering. His quiff has flopped down over his forehead and his eyes are wide and Dan just sighs, forgetting about the bus and pulling Phil closer, wrapping him in a hug. 

After a moment Phil lets out a gasping breath and clings back, and Dan can feel his eyelashes against his neck where he’s pushed his face in, breathing deeply like - well. Like he’s just been hunting for a gate to hell in the middle of the night and encountered fucking gale force winds out of nowhere. He’ll save the “I told you so” for later, and just opts to guide Phil gently to the bus.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a real place and the story is based on a couple of local legends :) there is no conceivable way they could've actually gone here while on tour, but i think it would be neat if they did! 
> 
> title from "take you back" by jill andrews because ??? it was REALLY stuck in my head while writing this
> 
> find me on tumblr @ irrationalqueer.


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